5 Potential trade targets that fit into the Hawks’ $25 million exception

The Atlanta Hawks mostly got financial flexibility for trading John Collins to the Utah Jazz.

Not only do they drop below the first luxury tax apron after facing an $8-plus million bill – they have never paid the luxury tax under team governor Tony Ressler – but they also generated a $25.3 million trade exception by absorbing Rudy Gay’s contract into a previous exception.

This is the third trade exception generated since February. The Brooklyn Nets generated an $18.1 million exception by trading Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns while the Dallas Mavericks generated a $17 million exception by sending Davis Bertans to the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2023 NBA Draft.

The Hawks also opened up the non-taxpayer mid-level exception with this trade, and have the bi-annual exception at their disposal but, for this exercise, we will focus on that exception.

One potential roadblock is that the Hawks would risk going right back over the luxury tax threshold which could go against a rumored “mandate” to avoid such a thin. But ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported they are expected to remain in “deal-making mode”.

That leaves the natural question of who they will use the exception on, assuming they don’t let the one-year expiration date come and go.

But it is important to know just what the Hawks can and cannot do with the exception.

Per Real GM, “They can only be used to acquire players under contract – A team cannot sign a free agent using a trade exception. However, it can be used in a sign-and-trade, though that would require the participation of the player’s previous team and that team being able to sign said player to the agreed-upon contract.”

5 potential trade targets for the Atlanta Hawks’ $25.3M exception

The list of players that both fit into the full Collins TPE and are available for trade started and ended with Collins. From there, the Hawks would have to settle for using a chunk of it or putting together multiple contracts to get as close to that $25.3 million mark as possible.

With those guidelines in place, let’s take a look at some potential trade options for the Hawks.

Bringing Malcolm Brogdon home could make sense

Looking at the first path, Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon might not jump off the screen as an obvious option. For starters, the Hawks have two All-Star-caliber guards and just drafted Kobe Bufkin with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Brogdon, 30, is also dealing with an injury that was serious enough that it derailed a potential three-team trade that would have sent him to the Los Angeles Clippers.

But L.A.s loss could still be the Hawks’ gain with the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

The Atlanta native averaged 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists this past season, shooting 48.4% from the floor and 44.4% from beyond the arc setting a new career high. He is currently nursing – with a four-to-eight-week period of “resting and rehabbing,” per Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens on ‘Celtics Talk Podcast’ on June 23.

Despite a recent tough stretch with injuries, Brogdon’s 67 appearances this past season were his most since his rookie season when he won Rookie of the Year. It was also his first season operating strictly off the bench.

Brogdon is just starting a two-year, $45 million extension he signed with the Pacers ahead of the 2021-22 season and will earn $22.5 million in 2023-24.

He could provide value in the interim and still be a trade chip later.

And, if all goes well, and his homecoming proves to be a success, the Hawks would have a path to cap space assuming they further position themselves for it. This might be on the more unlikely end of the spectrum given Brogdon’s injury history having averaged just over 51 games per season from 2017-18 to 2021-22.

Brogdon’s ability on both ends of the floor could be worth the gamble for a Hawks team that has lacked both on top of a level of toughness and leadership at times in recent years. If not, the Hawks could opt to go expensive but on the other end of the age spectrum.

Toronto Raptors swingman OG Anunoby would bring versatility

What Brogdon could bring to the backcourt, Toronto Raptors’ rising star OG Anunoby would bring to the wings and frontcourt. Anunoby, 25, averaged 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists while snagging a career-best 1.9 steals per game. He also shot 47.6% from the floor, 38.7% from downtown, and can play anywhere from 2 through 4 and some small-ball 5.

The No. 23 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, Anunoby is heading into the final year of his rookie contract and is due for a significant raise.

It is unclear if he will receive that from Toronto at this time.

“They haven’t came to me of anything, and if they did I’ll talk to them,” Anunoby told the gaggle of reporters during his end-of-season media availability on the Raptors’ official YouTube channel on April 13. “I love Toronto, I love my teammates, I love the staff. So, yeah, I’ll definitely talk to them.”

Toronto is still trying to pick a direction between trying to compete right now or sending their roster into a full rebuild under first-year head coach Darko Rajakovic.

The Hawks were linked to Anunoby’s teammate Pascal Siakam in recent rumors and, while the latter is more accomplished, the former is more than three years younger and offers more positional versatility.

With the Hawks needing to make financial decisions on Saddiq Bey, Dejounte Murray, and Onyeka Okongwu in the near future, and the likes of AJ Griffin and Jalen Johnson already looking to make an impact, they might not be too eager to add another looming bill so soon after ducking under the tax line.

There will naturally be more thrifty options available that could still make an impact for Atlanta.

The Hawks could use Marcus Morris’ toughness

Veteran forward Marcus Morris Sr., 33, is known for the kind of toughness that the Hawks have lacked since they traded Solomon Hill to the New York Knicks with Cam Reddish. Hill was not afraid of doing the dirty work and Morris is very much in the same mold.

He averaged 11.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in ‘22-’23 and hit 36.4% of his threes.

Those numbers are very comparable to what the Hawks got from Collins last season and at $8.2 million less than the former Hawk will cost this coming season.

There was a report from Andrew Greif of The LA Times that said it was “well known” Morris wanted out of L.A. but his twin brother and Dallas Mavericks forward Markieff Morris came out and refuted them pretty strongly in a tweet calling the report “cap” – Marcus is heading into the final year of four-year, $64 million contract and will earn roughly $17 million next season.

https://twitter.com/Keefmorris/status/1671175483893985283

The Hawks would be Morris’ seventh team since entering the league as the No. 14 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

He spent the first couple of years of his career with the Houston Rockets before being traded to the Phoenix Suns who then traded him to the Detroit Pistons where the trend continued with a trade to the Boston Celtics. Morris signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks in 2019 but was traded to L.A. in 2020.

He might not be at the top of anyone’s list but the Hawks could do far worse than using the bulk of their TPE on Morris if their goal is to worry about this coming season. If not, they could look to spend on a younger option.

Malik Beasley was on the Hawks’ radar

Typically, the rumor mill consists of outsiders discussing deals they would like to see get dealt and two where. There are also instances of front office types speaking out though those interactions are often more controlled and less revealing.

When players speak on such matters, it tends to be worth a listen since the source and end goal are much clearer as was the case with Los Angeles Lakers swingman Malik Beasley.

“I’ve heard…almost every team,” Beasley, 26, told Chris Haynes on the ‘#thisleague UNCUT’ podcast about who had checked in with Utah about acquiring his services ahead of the February 9 trade deadline. “I know for sure Atlanta, New York, Cleveland, Phoenix. It’s been a lot of options.”

That is not a guarantee for Beasley — also an Atlanta native — however.

He was traded to the Lakers where he fell out of the rotation by the time they reached the NBA Finals.

Before he was dealt away, Beasley averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.7 rebounds in Utah. He only shot 35.9% from deep this past season but shot 38.9% from long distance over the last four seasons split between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

This trade would have to wait until June 29 when his $16.5 million salary becomes guaranteed.

“He can be a contributor, really on any team,” a rival executive told Heavy Sports NBA insider Sean Deveney about the Lakers’ potential plans for Beasley. “The expectation is they’ll keep him. He can be a good trade piece if you need one. It’s just, if the tax is a big worry, he’d be the easy piece to move off of.”

This is another potential trade that made more sense before the Hawks drafted Bufkin with Beasley’s primary attribute being his three-point shooting and little else.

From there, the list of options thins out even further in both quality and salary.

The Hawks could take advantage of the Nets’ timelines

Another possibility that the Hawks were said to have had an interest in was Brooklyn Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith. Brooklyn is somewhere between a rebuild and pushing to contend and Finney-Smith, 30, has been said to be one of the pieces they are willing to shop this offseason as they manage their own cap sheet relative to expectations

“There is still a lot of speculation that Atlanta could bring back a John Collins offer for the Nets,” another GM told Heavy Sports. “And DFS is a guy they want to bring in.”

Now that the Collins angle of that rumor has been settled in a different way, it’s unclear if the Nets would have an interest in simply shedding the salary. Finney-Smith and teammate Royce O’Neale, 30, are both said to carry price tags of at least one first-round pick.

The Hawks could get the Sacramento Kings’ first-round pick if the latter makes the playoffs.

That would give the Hawks a pair of picks that project to be outside of the lottery and potentially into the back third of the draft. Is one of those picks for one (or a pick and a swap for both) of the Nets’ wings too steep of a price for the Hawks’ front office to pay for a pair of wings that can help now and are still under contract going forward in Finney-Smith’s case?

Finney-Smith averaged 8.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists this past season. His three-point efficiency fell from 38.9% over the previous three years to 33.7% this past season.

But he did shoot a slightly better 35.5% mark before being traded from Dallas to Brooklyn and still provides solid defense. He is also just entering the second year of a four-year, $55.5 million contract with a $15.4 million player option in 2025-26.

O’Neale averaged 8.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 2023-24.

He shot better than 38.0% from deep for the third consecutive season and offers stout perimeter defense just like Finney-Smith. But O’Neale – who was acquired by Brooklyn last offseason to appease Kevin Durant and is heading into the final year of a four-year, $36 million contract next season – also played for Snyder in Utah.

This offseason seems sure to bring plenty more twists and turns for the Hawks before all is said and done.